Bruised Hearts
by elitalia
Summary: Six months after the curse was broken, Emma came to Regina with an outrageous request: "Take my heart!".
1. Chapter 1

**BRUISED HEARTS**

**CHAPTER 1**

Regina was in the kitchen, her hands under the hot running water. With quick movements she washed away the last drops of cider and the mark of her lipstick from the glass that had stayed with her during the last few hours.

Regina had spent her evening on the couch with Henry, watching two episodes of his latest favorite show and, during commercial breaks, listening to his excited recount of his sword lesson with David.

Six months after the curse was broken, mother and son were rebuilding their relationship on stronger and more honest foundations. Since Regina had expressed and showed her desire to change, to redeem herself, to not use magic to hurt others, to not treat him as a possession, Henry had been standing proudly on her side. In the spoken words of regrets and in his strong and frequent hugs, he was showing to his mother his desire to forgive her and to stop seeing her as the cruel Evil Queen of his stories.

Regina was working hard to leave her Enchanted Forest's persona behind, to not let the wary and unforgiving looks of some of the residents of Storybrooke get to her, to not succumb to the dark magic that was running again in her veins and to the power that came with it. She was focusing on Henry, on her love for him and on her desire to be the mother he deserved.

And so the quiet evenings spent with her son became Regina's primary source of serenity. Having Henry talking to her, smiling at her and enjoying their time together, after months of accusations and hateful looks, was giving Regina happiness again. Those evenings warmed her heart, like the glass of cider she allowed herself each time after Henry went to bed warmed her body.

Glass cleaned, Regina closed the faucet, dried her hands, and looked at the clock on the kitchen wall. It was already eleven thirty and Regina was ready to end her day.

She was making her way upstairs when someone knocked loudly on the front door. At that time of the night she knew it could only be Emma Swan.

Regina turned around, climbed down the stairs and slowly walked to the door as another series of knocks echoed in the foyer.

In the past few months opening her door for Emma had become a habit. Picking up Henry and dropping him off, their biweekly magic lessons, the casual dinners all together: almost every day there was something that brought Emma to stand on her porch. And so Regina had become familiar with the way Emma rang her doorbell – always two rapid rings – and the way her own lips curled into a small smile every time she made her way to welcome Emma into her home.

This time was no exception. But along with the spontaneous curl of her lips there were also a strange thrill going through her body and a heartbeat becoming quicker every step she took. They were the result of the last time Emma had knocked on her door past Henry's bedtime.

"_Miss Swan, it's late. What do you want?" _

"_You're so fucking impossible…_"

Those were the words that Emma had replied to her three weeks before. Emma had been drunk and angry, and before Regina could ask her to leave and call it a night, the sheriff had taken her face in her hands and kissed her hard.

The kiss had been rough, imperfect, whisky-flavored. But if it hadn't been for the shock which stunned her into stillness, or for Emma who quickly – too quickly – stepped back breaking the kiss, Regina would have tangled her hand in the woman's hair, pressed her more firmly against her body and kissed her back until her lips hurt.

The kiss had been long coming, Regina thought. Desire had always sparked between them; a weird sexual energy had always tinted their interactions. In the past few months – as they worked together as Henry's moms, as magic users and protectors of the town – trust, understanding, gratitude and playfulness had also become elements of their tentative friendship, strengthening their draw for each other and building genuine affection between them.

In the rapid touch of their lips, Regina had realized that Emma – with all her goodness and compassion – was the person for whom she might dare to love again. In the way her heart had exploded in her chest, Regina had realized that Emma – the daughter of her enemy, the breaker of her curse, the mother of her son – might be her chance at a happy ending.

But Emma hadn't shared her epiphany. Without any words, without another look, she had stumbled away, and Regina had been too stunned to try to stop her.

Later that night, her lips still tingling, Regina had vowed to herself and to her bruised heart that she would be cautious: Emma Swan had now the power to either be what she needed the most or be the final crack set to fully shatter her.

Preventing Emma from knowing she had that power felt like a necessity and buying time to come to terms with the new realizations was imperative. And so, without thinking it twice, Regina had used her magic to erase Emma's visit to her house from the woman's memories, sparing herself a morning-after conversation undoubtedly destined to be an awkward and false denial of feelings or a terrifying admission of them.

But if Emma couldn't remember the kiss, Regina did. In fact, she relived it at least once a day. Before falling asleep, the memory of their kiss mixed with fantasies of a happy life together; during the time spent with Emma, it prompted her teasing and her flirty remarks, made to test if Emma would kiss her even without alcohol in her body; but mostly it fueled her desire to become a better person, someone who could give Emma all she needed, someone who was worthy of the Savior's love.

At times, the memory of their kiss also inflamed her body. And in that moment, with Emma showing up so late like three weeks before, Regina was burning. More than ever, her lips longed for Emma's. More than ever, her hands craved to touch Emma's body. More than ever, her heart asked for Emma's to beat with hers.

Regina tried to swallow her desire, took a deep calming breath and opened the door. As expected, Storybrooke's sheriff was standing in front of her. Emma's posture suggested sobriety and tension, fatigue and purpose. The porch light illuminated her face, revealing a grim expression that made Regina's smile and desire quickly vanish.

"Miss Swan, is everything alright?" Regina asked in a worried whisper.

Emma didn't offer any answer, she simply pushed past her and entered the mansion.

Regina quickly closed the door and followed with her eyes as Emma moved to the staircase, looked briefly upstairs and turned expectantly towards her. The fast and edgy movements alarmed Regina even more.

Slowly she approached her guest and asked again, "Emma, what's wrong?"

Once again, Emma stayed silent; she only moved closer to Regina and took the woman's right hand in hers.

Regina shivered as cold fingers touched her skin and looked with confusion as Emma brought their hands on her chest. Under the cheap fabric of Emma's shirt, under her own palm, Emma's heart was beating fast and strong. Regina could feel the pure and rich magic – the magic she had come to know in the last months as she taught Emma how to connect with it, the magic she wondered at for the way it connected with her own – flowing inside it.

Emma's heartbeat, Emma's magic, Emma's perfume made Regina feel warm and lightheaded. Unconsciously, she moved closer to Emma, until their thighs were touching and their breaths caressed the other's skin. Regina let herself be lost and anchored in the intimacy of the moment.

When she lifted her gaze from their hands and met Emma's eyes, the sheriff finally spoke, "Take my heart, Regina."

Ice.

Regina felt like ice was suddenly coursing through her veins.

And then lava.

Regina felt like hot scorching lava was running through her whole body.

Fresh in her blood, her rage burnt like desire had moments ago.

Regina's magic reacted immediately and in a blink of an eye Emma was flying across the foyer, while a ball of fire appeared in Regina's hand. Facing the door, she was ready to defend herself; she was ready for Snow, David and the Blue Fairy to burst into her home and reveal themselves as the masterminds behind the farce.

Regina couldn't believe it. She had thought that Emma really trusted her. Emma knew she had no intention of ever using her magic for that purpose again, Emma knew that she was trying to be a different person than the Evil Queen who rips hearts out; and yet, Emma dared to make such an outrageous request to test her real ability to change.

Regina could imagine the townspeople forming the plan, "Let's see if The Evil Queen is truly on the way of redemption by offering her the Savior's heart!", and worst, she could imagine Emma agreeing to that.

Regina felt angry, but mostly betrayed.

When after a few long minutes the Charmings didn't announce themselves, Regina assumed that Emma had at least had the decency to face her alone. Quite certainly an enchantment would have kept her from taking the sheriff's heart.

When Emma walked towards her, holding her shoulder and grimacing with pain, Regina ordered in an emotionless voice, "I want you out of my house. Now."

But Emma didn't move, instead she looked at Regina with defeat in her eyes, and spoke again, "Take my heart, Regina, and I'll go…please."

That final word and the way Emma's voice broke around it stopped Regina from attacking the woman again. With horror, she realized that Emma's request was not part of a scheme to prove her unchanged; it was genuine.

"Emma…"

The sheriff's name escaped her lips in a soft murmur, and all of Regina's confusion, shock and disbelief found expression in the two syllables.

"Please…"

Emma's desperate plea sounded like the cry for help of a drowning woman. And looking into Emma's tearful eyes Regina could see the overwhelming emotions in which Emma was sinking.

Regina had always been aware of Emma's palpable uneasiness with the reality of fairytales, with the strangeness that the life in Storybrooke entailed, and with the burdens that came with her role as Savior; she was conscious of Emma's reluctance to let herself be loved even by the people she'd always dreamt to meet; but Regina had not realized how _oppressed_ Emma felt by the novelties of her life.

Was it so painfully noticeable now because something had happened and brought it out in the open, cut Emma so deeply that she decided to stop feeling?

One thing was certain: Regina had no intention of taking Emma's heart. She wasn't going to leave Henry's other mother without a heart to love him, and she wasn't going to turn the only person who really understood her into an emotionless being.

Emma was a drowning woman, but she was asking for the ocean to evaporate and not for a life jacket to keep herself afloat. Emma needed to be strong, to cope with her emotions and make the needed changes to find her peace, no shortcut allowed.

"This is not the solution to your problems, Emma. And even if it were, I wouldn't take your heart. It's not right."

Her refusal prompted an instant change in Emma: the sheriff straightened her stand, moved her hand from her injured shoulder and looked at Regina with anger and resentment.

"Since when do you have a problem taking a heart?" She spat out. "Has The Evil Queen suddenly acquired a conscience? Only…what? a_ year_? after you crushed Graham's heart without any mercy?"

Regina could empathize with a desperate soul; she could understand better than anyone else how the inner turmoil of the soul could bring a person to lash out at the others, but she had no intention of allowing Emma to be disrespectful and deliberately hurtful. They were past angry accusations.

Regina gritted her teeth in displeasure when Emma stopped her hand just before it made contact with Emma's cheek. She then grimaced in pain when Emma tightened her grip around her wrist and brought her hand back to her own chest. Minutes before, feeling Emma's heart beating strong under her fingers had felt intimate and heavy, now it felt hollow and wrong.

"I'm asking you to do it, just fucking do it," Emma ordered, her voice loud enough to possibly wake Henry.

The sheriff was clearly getting angrier and more frustrated by the minute and Regina – unsure to be able to handle her – decided to put an end to Emma's visit.

"I hope you'll see reason in the morning," she said and with a subdued flick of her free hand, teleported Emma at the end of her street, where she knew Emma's Bug was parked.

When she finally heard the car leave, Regina allowed herself to breathe. She then climbed the stairs and quietly entered Henry's room.

Relieved that her son was still sleeping, ignorant of his mothers' confrontation, Regina went back downstairs and into the kitchen. She took the glass she had rinsed before Emma had knocked, and filled it with whisky. The bottle of hard liquor – always kept hidden behind two big cans of tomatoes – was now almost empty, and Regina made a mental note to buy another one next time she went shopping.

Leaning against the counter, she gulped down her drink, hoping for an immediate effect on her body.

She felt exhausted, consumed by the many different emotions lived in the last minutes. She also felt the forming of that same headache that had been her companion for such a long time when Emma had first came to town with her challenging and annoying attitude. Mostly, she felt concern and sorrow for Emma.

Even in her darkest times Regina had never thought about ripping her heart off. When Daniel died, she had needed her anger and desperation, her hope in dark magic and her thirst for revenge to wanting to live; when she married the King, she'd needed her longing for freedom to finally achieve it; when Snow got her happy ending, she'd needed her desire to destroy it to find her own through the curse. Her heart – her quickly darkening heart – had provided all that; taking it off her chest would have meant resigning herself to the circumstances, forgetting what happiness could be like, preventing herself to feel the warmth that remembering Daniel brought to her chest.

Her emotions had guided (and misguided) her through life, they had been anchors to hang on to. But Regina knew that for Emma it was the exact opposite: a cool detachment from people and a self-imposed numbness to emotions were her allies, and evidently they were very much missed.

Being in Storybrooke surrounded by people she loved and who loved her had clearly destroyed the walls around Emma's heart with no possibility to rebuild them, and had opened the gate to so many feelings and fears that Emma had always worked hard to keep away. Now, Emma felt like she couldn't breathe.

Should she consider giving Emma what she wanted if it meant giving her peace?

She couldn't and even the fact the she found herself wondering that made Regina feel ashamed of herself. It was time to go to sleep and stop thinking about Emma's outrageous request.

After drinking another glass of whisky, Regina left the kitchen and went up to her bedroom.

That night Regina fell asleep looking at the jewelry box on her nightstand. It was one of the many wooden boxes which had contained pulsating hearts until the curse was broken and she had used her magic to find their right owners to give them back to. It was a reminder that the Evil Queen was gone and that now she was a different person. It was a reassuring testament that people could change and learn to embrace new things.

Emma could too.

* * *

A/N: The idea for this fic has tormented me for so long. Now I'm finally writing and sharing it. I really hope you enjoyed this first part.

Chapter 2 may take a while, please be patient!

I apologize for any mistakes. Blame my Italian blood for them.


	2. Chapter 2

**BRUISED HEARTS**

**CHAPTER 2**

Regina was holding Emma's heart. It was warm and strong and pure. It was the kindest heart she had ever held and it made her feel deeply ashamed of her own. Regina felt like she was corrupting its essence just by touching it; she was almost expecting to see her darkness seep into it and dim its bright glow.

"Thank you, Regina."

Regina had been so mesmerized by Emma's heart that the sound of her voice startled her. Slowly, she raised her eyes to the woman standing in front of her: a content expression painting her face, Emma looked relieved, like the weight of the world had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Thank you," the sheriff repeated, and then brought her hands around hers.

Regina felt suddenly overwhelmed. Emma's heart was beating stronger in their joined grip, Emma's eyes were so soft and her hands so gentle. What unsettled her the most was the surge of emotions flooding her body: intense, chaotic and oppressive. Among the confused mix, Regina could only recognize a deep sense of gratitude. She knew it could only come from Emma: holding her heart, Regina was feeling what Emma couldn't feel anymore.

It was too much.

She was about to take a step back and leave Emma to hold her own heart when the sheriff started to squeeze. With horror, Regina felt her fingers sink into the organ and waves of pain shooting through her chest.

"Stop it!" She screamed as she futilely tried to push back against Emma's hands, as she futilely tried to struggle away from Emma, who seemed completely unaffected by the abuse of her heart.

As the pain increased and her energy started to give away, Regina pleaded Emma again.

A second later Emma's heart was crushed.

-0-

Regina woke with a start, breathless and with the feeling of dust still running through her fingers.

The bluish light coming through the windows brought her back to the reality of her bedroom. What she had dreamt was hard to shake, though. The brightness of Emma's heart, the relief in Emma's eyes, the ache through her chest, the horror for Emma's actions felt all too real and disturbing.

Even the fact that squeezing Emma's heart had brought pain to herself – even if it wasn't possible because magic didn't work like _that_ – felt real. After all, nowadays, Regina was painfully aware that hurting Emma meant also hurting herself.

It wasn't until her mind had analyzed every little detail of her dream and her heart had stopped beating furiously in her chest that Regina realized what had prompted her dream: Emma coming to her the night before and asking her to take her heart.

As she remembered the desperate way Emma had pleaded her and the raw anger Emma had displayed, Regina felt fear and worry. Gone was the sense of reassurance she'd felt last night before closing her eyes, Regina was now scared that Emma could have done something stupid after leaving Mifflin Street. Above all, she was worried that Emma might have decided to leave Storybrooke – the source of all her sorrows and troubles – behind, and never come back.

Once formed into her mind, Regina couldn't shake the thought that Emma might have gone.

She looked at her alarm clock: five and thirty-eight were the red numbers glaring at her. Uncaring of the earliness, Regina decided to call Emma. She took her phone, placed on her nightstand, and selected the sheriff's number.

Holding her breath, Regina let the phone ring until a voice came through. It wasn't Emma's. It was the cold irritating one of the answering machine.

It didn't mean anything. Emma was known for her deep sleep and for not being a morning person, and expecting her to answer a phone call before six was simply foolish. Still, Regina had needed to know that the sheriff was okay and in Storybrooke, and that her visit had just been a moment of irrational despair, isolated in time and free of consequences.

Feeling more distressed than before and unable to stay put, Regina got out of bed and started pacing her room. She quickly went through the possible spells she could use to know if Emma was in town, but each enchantment that came to her mind entailed blood or a precious material possession of the person looked for.

Regina had never missed Sidney's service as her mirror more than in that moment. Asking for a glimpse of Emma would have been enough to have an image of the woman forming on the surface and calm her growing concern.

A simple solution then came to her mind: teleporting at the Charmings'. Hopefully, she would find herself directly in Emma's room, avoiding the possibility of waking Snow or David, and Emma sleeping in there.

She quickly dressed herself and teleported at the apartment. As the smoke of the spell disappeared, Regina was enveloped by Emma's perfume and by the soft orange light of a bedside lamp. Immediately, she looked towards the bed and found something unexpected: a sleeping Snow, lounged uncomfortably over the covers and still dressed with her day clothes.

By the look of it, Snow had fallen asleep while waiting up for Emma. It was clear then that mother and daughter had argued the night before and while Emma had come to her with the need to stop feeling, Snow had waited in Emma's room for a chance to talk to her.

Regina couldn't imagine what the discussion had been about or what Snow – or David perhaps – had said to upset Emma so much, but she felt like she should've known that Emma's parents were the cause of her torment: the sheriff was always so sensitive when it came to them; they had the ability to turn her into a small insecure girl, painfully exposed to hurting and afraid of letting people down.

The sudden desire to shake Snow awake and demand an explanation was all the warning Regina needed to leave the apartment.

She quickly decided to teleport at the sheriff's station: if Emma had opted to stay clear of her parents then the station was the place where Emma had probably decided to crash. A few seconds later she was there, but the woman wasn't sleeping on the hard and thin mattress of either of the cells nor in any other rooms.

Her last glimmer of hope pushed her to check the weak possibility that Emma's Bug could be parked in front of the station and so Regina walked out of it.

The car was nowhere in sight and all her hope miserly died.

Emma was outside of Storybrooke, Regina was now sure.

-0-

Regina walked home, hair messed by the morning wind and mind by thoughts of Emma.

When she opened the door to her house, more than hour had passed since her terrible awakening. Soon Henry would be up and so she went into the kitchen, put on her apron and started making pancakes from scratch.

Breakfast was a short and quiet affair. Regina, preoccupied with considering what she could do next, forced down only a few bites of pancake, while Henry gulped down everything on his plate and more, fueled by his excitement over the presentation of his latest school project. Soon he was out of the door to meet Grace, his science partner, and current crush as the way his cheeks reddened at every mention of her clearly suggested.

Regina tied up the kitchen and then made a few calls to Emma. The empty ringing and the annoying voicemail started to sound like mocking laughter. The growing heaviness in her heart, instead, felt like a bitter reminder of what caring for Emma really meant.

Her mind couldn't stop from wondering if letting herself fall for Emma – a woman so wonderful yet so easily overwhelmed by her own feelings and resorting to running when things got hard – was a mistake she should prevent.

Because even if she did allow herself to fully love Emma, would Emma be able to do the same and be with her without holding back or ever feeling suffocating? Should she be so arrogant and foolish to think that Emma could let herself love and be loved by a reformed Evil Queen? Should she risk her own heart for someone who hours before had asked her to rip off her own?

A sudden need for a strong drink made itself known; Regina pushed it away like any further thought about love and Emma as overlapping realities.

Right now she only needed to find the woman and bring her – willing or not – back to Storybrooke.

A few moments later she was in her study, retrieving a thick file about Emma from one of the drawers of her desk. She had acquired it when Emma had declared her intention to run for sheriff and most of the information had been published on the Daily Mirror, in a time when destroying Emma had been her only purpose.

Sometimes, Regina missed those days and the simple relationship she had with Emma back then with all her being.

Before she could find the page where Emma's Boston address was recorded – at this point Regina was sure that after getting into her car Emma had driven straight to the city without looking back –, someone rang the doorbell.

Regina went to open the door and was surprised to come to face with Miss Lucas, who certainly wasn't one of her usual guests. It wasn't hard to imagine the reason behind her visit: finally Snow had realized her daughter had gone missing and asked her loyal werewolf friend to find her.

And so Regina was _not_ surprised when the first words out of Ruby's mouth were, "Is Emma here?", or by the accusation behind them.

"She is not," Regina easily replied and felt irritation grow when Ruby moved her head to glance inside her house.

"I assure you, Miss Lucas, that she is not here," she repeated less cordially than before.

"Okay, then tell me why I can smell her as if she's inside or been here very recently."

Regina was momentarily at loss of words, partially disgusted by the werewolf's ability and partially unable to find an answer to her question. More than 8 hours had passed since Emma had come to her and she really didn't know how the woman's smell could still be detected by Ruby.

"My guess is that something's wrong with your sense of smell since those are not the cases."

"Regina, I swear, if you did something to her…"

At Ruby's threat, the same hot anger that had filled her body the night before when she had thought Emma's request had been a ploy to prove her still evil run through her veins.

Regina controlled her magic, vibrant under her skin and wanting to be wielded, and let her anger ignite her voice and words, "I believe Miss Lucas that if you're going around town looking for Emma right now, instead of serving awful coffee and tasteless food, is because our dear Snow White asked you to. Haven't you asked _her_ why Emma is missing?"

Few things in the world were as satisfying as making the blind trust that Snow's minions put into their leader shake and crumble, and so Regina took pleasure at seeing a spark of suspicion cloud Ruby's face.

"Go back to your work, Ruby. I'm taking care of Emma's disappearance," she stated with finality and with a last irritated look at the werewolf closed the door.

Regina went back into her study and to the open file on her desk. Her eyes fell on a page of annotations written by Sydney. It was a list of things she had asked him to do to ensure she knew every movement and every single thing Emma was doing around her sleeping town back when the curse was unbroken. Among it, the voice 'successful installation of the GPS tracker on Emma Swan's car' caught her interest.

Regina had completely forgotten about it but she was sure that the system was still active. A few clicks on her phone and Regina could see Emma's car's exact position on a very detailed map.

Emma was still in Maine. In fact, she was just 3 miles out of Storybrooke. That meant that Emma hadn't driven straight to Boston as Regina had believed: something had stopped her.

With a heart lighter than it had ever been since she'd woke up that morning, Regina left her home and got into her car.

-0-

Regina hadn't driven past the town line since three years before, when she had gone to Portland with Henry for his birthday. Outside of Storybrooke, Regina felt vulnerable and impotent and being surrounded by strangers, who didn't acknowledge her existence (unless it was for money) or recognize her power, had always felt upsetting and never liberating as she had imagined.

In her little cursed town Regina had also had the security that came from knowing that magic was still a resource, even if extremely hard to get, even if at the expense of some sacrifice and very limited. Outside of Storybrooke there was absolutely no possibility to create it and that's why she had limited the number of trips with Henry out of town: she didn't like how exposed he was to dangers without having magic to turn to.

Now magic was running again in her veins: crossing the town line Regina felt like she was stripping down of her armour and still going into battle. She took great comfort in the fact that Emma was just a few miles away, and it was with relief that she welcomed the sight of the yellow Bug parked at the side of the road ten minutes later.

Regina stopped her car behind Emma's and got out. She walked to the Bug's driver door and looked inside. Seat slightly reclined, Emma was sleeping facing the window in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. The urge to see Emma's eyes and what she could find in them made Regina tap loudly on the glass.

Emma woke with a start, alarmed eyes opening and meeting hers. Regina stepped back and waited for the sheriff to exit the car. A moment later Emma was standing in front of her, a little uncertain on her feet and grimacing at the light of day. The faint smell of whiskey coming from her only confirmed the fact that she had drunk before falling asleep.

"Regina." Emma's voice was dry and raspy.

"Wait a second."

Regina went back to her car to retrieve a small bottle of water from her bag; she then offered it to Emma who took it with a murmured thanks and drank half of its content.

When their eyes met again, Regina could see a new clarity in the woman's gaze. Emma looked worn-out, heart-broken and lost, but the haunted desperation of the night before seemed far away.

Emma was okay and in front of her and Regina was torn between wanting to hug the woman tight to her body in relief and slap her hard across her face for the worry she'd caused. She quenched both needs but couldn't stop her hand from reaching out and cupping Emma's cheek, feeling her real and safe and warm under her fingers.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"No, I'm not."

Emma's honesty shook her soul.

She was about to ask what had happened last night when Emma took her hand and brought it to her own lips. The small and gentle kiss on her knuckles took Regina's breath away.

"But now you're here," Emma stated and looked at her with reverence and gratefulness, and like she could fix everything that was wrong or like that didn't matter at all.

Regina could feel Emma's gaze touching her soul. The inebriating intensity of the moment reminded her of the night before, and for a second Regina worried that Emma was going to ask her something unreasonable again.

But when Emma spoke again, it was for a request almost childlike in its simplicity. "Can we please wait a bit more before going back to Storybrooke?"

And Regina – who had been ready to have to convince and force Emma to go back – conceded, relieved, "Sure..."

With a small smile and a squeeze of her hand, Emma moved to the car behind her and sat on the hood. On every other occasion, Regina would have protested against the crime committed against her beloved Benz but she was still flustered by the power behind the moment that she didn't say anything at all. Instead, she found herself joining Emma.

The cold of the metal seeped immediately through the rich fabric of her pants, contrasting with the warmth in her heart. As she tightened her jacket around her, Emma started to speak.

"I really didn't expect you to come and get me," she said, in a way that made it clear that she had hoped for it. "Did you know where I was before leaving Storybrooke?"

"Yes, I did." Regina wasn't going to explain how she knew that and she hoped that Emma wasn't going to ask.

Emma simply nodded and then gestured at her car and at the open fields at the sides of the road. "Last night I got stuck here. I had every intention to keep going until I was in Boston but I couldn't drive another mile, another _inch_, away from Storybrooke…" Emma said, giving confirmation to what Regina had suspected. "I couldn't imagine leaving Henry behind, going back to my Boston apartment and to the life I had before. I hate Storybrooke and its craziness most of the time but that's where Henry…and _you_ are…and I want to be where you are…"

Emma's words, the sentiment and the firmness behind them brought tears to her eyes. In the past few months, Emma's drunken kiss, genuine smiles, and gentle looks, had made Regina very aware of Emma's attraction and affection to her, as well as her own, but Emma had never expressed before how important she was to her. Now, Emma had voiced the closest thing to a love confession there could be between them at that moment in time, and Regina – heart spilling with emotions – answered in accordance, "I'm really happy you stopped here…"

Emma then covered Regina's hand with her own and slowly caressed the skin with her thumb. Hair in the wind, open fields around her and a warm and gentle hand on top of her own, Regina felt like she was 18 again, carefree, good-hearted and believing in true love as she'd been so many years before, when Daniel had been at her side.

In that moment letting herself fall for Emma felt like a beautiful inevitability.

They stay in silence for a while, enjoying each other's presence with a new depth and savouring the possible developments of their relationship, as they held hands and stared at the small grey clouds chasing each other above their heads.

With reluctance, Regina finally broke the silence: before going back to Storybrooke she really wanted to know what had brought Emma first on her doorstep and then out of town.

"Can I ask you what happened last night?"

Emma slid off the hood of the car and Regina could see the woman closing off and tensing up. Still, she pushed. "I know your parents are somehow involved…"

For a moment the only answer Regina got was the tightening of Emma's jaws and the crushing of plastic as the sheriff squeezed the bottle in her hand. But then Emma run her hand through her hair and said, "Snow…she…she is pregnant."

And there it was the reason why Emma had been so desperate she'd wished to stop feeling and go back to her old life.

And as the annoying image of a happy Snow, her Prince Charming and a cute little baby formed in her mind, Regina understood Emma's sorrow. The woman was probably reliving all the times of her childhood when foster parents had rejected her in favour of another baby; she was probably feeling betrayed, put aside and forgotten as too many times before. And Regina was sure that Emma – good-hearted Emma – was berating herself for the hurt and the bitterness she was feeling, when the occasion called for joy and celebration and general happiness for her parents.

Regina's heart broke for Emma.

Before she could offer a few words of understanding and comfort, Emma spoke again.

"Tell me, Regina, how can I stand watching them being the doting and loving parents when that is everything I missed?"

The guilt and the shame for her actions had never felt more sharp and consuming. Her curse had condemned the people of her land to relive the same day for 28 years in a new and for many aspects better world: they barely had anything to hate her for. But Emma, the innocent daughter of her enemy, had been the only one to truly pay for Regina's mistakes.

Regina moved to stand in front of the sheriff. "I'm at fault for that, Emma. And I'm really very sorry." She knew her words were useless: they weren't going to magically repair the hurt she had inadvertently caused to Emma. Still, she'd needed to express her deep regret, hoping that Emma could one day forgive her.

But Emma shook her head and with a sad smile said, "No, Regina...It's not your fault. You weren't the one putting me in the wardrobe, you weren't the one who had all the curse figured out, you weren't the shitty foster families who gave me up…"

Regina shamefully found comfort in the heartbreaking words. Knowing that Emma wasn't blaming her was liberating, but at the same time disturbing: she didn't want Emma to erase her role in the story. And the idea that Emma might be doing that to avoid tainting her own feelings for her made her sick.

"I still had my part in it, and you can't ignore it."

"You were just a pawn in Rumplestiltskin's plan. You enacted the curse because he needed you to."

"I enacted the curse because I wanted your mother to be miserable!"

"Yeah, my mother, not me. And I don't care!" Emma stated with irritation. "The problem, Regina, is that my parents thought it was a good idea to leave their newborn daughter to grow up alone in a world they had no idea how it was, and just to fulfill a prophecy, when I could have been with them!"

Emma's anger at her parents was so raw and deep and Regina was taken aback by its force.

"You wouldn't have done that, Regina," Emma added. "You would have kept your daughter with you, found a different solution, fought to be with her. Snow didn't."

Regina had never put herself in Snow's shoes before but what Emma was saying was the truth: she wouldn't have let go so easily of a piece of her heart and she certainly wouldn't have let her daughter carry the weight of her mission as Savior alone. The fact that Emma so strongly and rightfully believed that her actions would've been different made her heart swell with affection for the woman.

Emma sighed deeply and leaned deflated against the car. "You know, one night soon after I broke the curse, Marco and the Blue Fairy came to us. They confessed that they had tricked Snow to have August come with me in this world right before the curse, taking what could have been her place."

It was something Regina hadn't known about and it made her blood boil to think how the Blue Fairy had allowed that to happen.

"Snow was heartbroken a moment and completely understanding the next. She said it was only natural for Marco to have demanded for Pinocchio to go through the wardrobe, considering that he might have died," Emma explained. "And I agree, and I understand Marco's reasons too. But God, Snow didn't even get angry. She didn't even yell at him or at Blue. It was like they'd only taken a worthless object from her, and not 28 years of life with her daughter. And the worst part is that, whenever Snow looks at me, I know she can only see those years of my life she has missed."

Regina moved closer to Emma and with her thumb wiped away the lonely tear fallen from the woman's eye. In that moment she swore that she was going to do everything in her power so that Emma wouldn't shed another tear, if not for joy.

"Snow loves you," she finally said. Because even if what Emma was saying and what she was feeling was legitimate, the most important thing was that her mother – even if not in the way she wanted – loved her very much.

"I know, I know…I just..." Emma stopped, shook her head and said, "I know. And that's all that should matter."

Then Emma was moving away from Regina's car. "I guess it's time we go back, uh?"

"Only if you're ready."

The sheriff nodded and with the first real smile of the morning asked, "Can I invite myself over for lunch?"

Regina would have insisted herself to have Emma coming with her to the mansion and so easily offered her consent.

Before moving towards her Bug, Emma fixed her gaze on Regina and said, "I'm really happy you're the mother of my son. Henry deserves to be loved as fiercely as you love him."

Then Emma was in her car, while Regina stood momentarily frozen, her chest growing warm as if a beam of sunlight had entered her heart and pierced through its darkness.

* * *

A/N: I hope you liked this second chapter! And again, I apologize for any mistakes.

Thank you so much to the readers who favourited and followed the first chapter. A special thank you goes to those who were so very kind to leave a review.

Until next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**BRUISED HEARTS**

**CHAPTER 3**

Heartbreaking confessions and heartwarming declarations left at the side of the road out of Storybrooke, Regina and Emma were now sitting in silence in Regina's kitchen.

An aspirin – requested by Emma as soon as they entered the mansion – was rapidly dissolving in a glass of water placed between them. Its sizzling, the only sound in the room.

Regina opened her mouth but nothing but air came out. The weight of the words shared before, and Emma looking dejected and lost made it hard for Regina to find something to say. And as time went by, she grew restless and unnerved by the silence, by her own incapability to engage in conversation, and by Emma staring at the now empty glass in her gloom.

She looked at the clock: 10.06. So much time until lunch and so little patience to bear the unbreakable silence.

It was Emma, kneading the muscle of her neck with a grimace, who gave Regina an idea for a way out.

"It's still early to start making lunch, would you like to take a shower in the meantime?"

"That would be great," answered Emma.

Relieved and hoping that some time apart might dissipate the uncomfortable and somber air enveloping them, Regina stood up and guided Emma to the guest bathroom upstairs.

After instructing the sheriff on where to find a towel and a spare toothbrush, and giving her a pair of sweatpants (the one Regina wore as a pajama in winter) and the light sweater Emma had left at hers after spilling wine on it during their last dinner (now clean and probably ironed for the first time in years), Regina left Emma to her shower.

She went downstairs and straight into her study. She sat down at her desk and with a happy sigh closed and put away Emma's file, left open more than an hour before in a rush to reach the woman out of town.

She then pulled out one of the books on magic giving to her by the Blue Fairy. It had been with great reluctance that the Mother Superior had given her the three old tomes, but with Snow pressing for it she hadn't had any options.

Regina had promised to only make use of them to support her magic lessons with Emma and considering that the majority of the spells described in them required fairy dust, wands, and herbs only existing in the Enchanted Forest, they hadn't given her much help or inspiration.

Still, she was now looking through the pages of the one focusing on healing enchantments. After months spent teaching the sheriff how to use her magic to attack and defend herself, Regina now wanted to push Emma to learn the ability to heal damages inflicted by nature and time or induced by other sorcerers. It was something Regina had never fully mastered, in part because she'd never been interested in it and in part because her magic – rooted in her dark soul – had not allowed it. She was sure, though, that Emma – the product of true love – could easily become very skillful in this type of magic.

Forty minutes later, when Emma entered the study, Regina had almost gone through every single page and bookmarked only seven spells as interesting.

But nothing in that book was as interesting as the woman now in front of her. Regina was staring at an Emma she was slightly unfamiliar with: loose pants, hair in a messy bun and an almost shy demeanor were the opposites of what Regina was used to. And the sense of unfamiliarity became stronger when Emma moved to stand behind her to look over her shoulder: Emma smelled like her own rich and sophisticated body lotion and Regina found herself missing the fresh and wildflower scent that usually invaded her senses when Emma was close to her.

Distracted, she also missed what the sheriff had just said to her. "What?" She asked.

"New magic stuff?" Emma repeated looking at the book, in a tone that revealed all her lack of enthusiasm at the prospect.

"Yes. Sorry, dear."

"I'm used to it by now," Emma sighed.

Emma's thrill about learning magic had disappeared after only two of their lessons but the sheriff had in fact endured all of them without never complaining. Regina had made sure that Emma knew how much important it was that she was conscious of all the potential of her magic and fully able to control it. Because even if Rumplestiltskin always said that magic came from emotions, concentration and discipline were needed to wield it. And because even if Emma's biggest power in a battle would never be her magic (Regina thought that that would always be her foolish bravery, born from her need to both protect the people she loved and to always do what felt right), it was still a great help when faced with any kind of threats; it was something that could save her life.

With a satisfying smack, Emma closed the book in front of Regina. "Let's think about lunch."

Regina smiled, forgetting all about magic and how foreign this Emma was to her. "Okay."

They left the study and moved to the kitchen in silence. A silence different from the one shared before, less thick and less gloomy, and soon and easily broken when Emma asked, "So, what are we making?"

"I was thinking risotto. That okay?"

"Absolutely."

Regina washed her hands, then retrieved two aprons from a drawer and passed one to Emma. From some months now, the sheriff had always helped Regina in the kitchen whenever she stayed over for dinner and because of that Emma had acquired the right to wear one – the less frilly – of Regina's aprons.

The vision of Emma in her baby-blue flower-printed apron never failed to amuse Regina. This time was no exception, and so it was with a wide smile on her lips that she asked, "So, do you want to prepare the mushrooms or the broth?"

"The mushrooms," Emma answered and proceeded to wash her hands.

"Good."

Regina was taking out from the fridge the ingredients they needed, when Emma spoke again, "Before, before coming down, I called Snow."

Regina turned to look at Emma, searching for the woman's emotions in her green eyes and encouraging her to share something more.

"I told her I'm here."

"Should I expect her to barge in here any minutes now?" Regina asked, dreading the idea of having Snow coming into her home but glad that Emma had called her mother.

"No, don't worry. I asked her to give me a little space," Emma explained.

Closing the fridge, Regina wondered how much time Snow was willing to give Emma before demanding her to come back home: she couldn't imagine it would be much, especially considering that Snow knew her daughter was with _her_.

However, be little or much time, Regina knew she wanted Emma at her side: she needed Emma close after having feared she was gone from her life.

While passing the box of white mushrooms to the sheriff, Regina gripped the woman's forearm and, trying to convey this need and her desire to help Emma, said, "You know you can stay here as long as you want."

Emma nodded. "I know, and I thank you for it."

-0-

The two following hours, as Regina and Emma cooked and then ate their lunch, the usual relaxed and playful atmosphere filled the air along with the delicious smells of their food. Conversation, kept light and pleasant, flowed naturally between them.

They were washing and drying the few dirty dishes and utensils they'd used, when the mood changed back to serious.

"With the baby coming, I think I should start looking for a new place," Emma said as she placed the dried knife in its slot in the wooden block on the counter.

"You mean move out…"

"Yeah. The apartment is already too full as it is, especially when Henry comes over."

Regina knew that that was only half the reason. In a few months, during every second spent at home, Emma would have to watch her parents giving to a new child everything she had missed, and Regina understood and approved Emma's decision to spare herself a little pain by moving out. However, she couldn't imagine David and Snow being fine with it.

"Your parents won't be happy."

"They'll get over it." Emma's scaring resentment towards her parents resurfaced in the quick and harsh reply, and for the first time Regina wondered what Emma, in her anger and affliction, might have said to Snow and David the night before. She was starting to think that harm had been done by both parties.

"Do you think Henry will understand?" Emma asked, voice turning back to its gentle quality.

"Of course, I mean I don't think he expected you to live forever with your parents…"

"Right."

Regina passed the last cooking pot to Emma and took off her rubber gloves. "You know, Henry will probably be happy to have his own room even when he stays with you."

Emma chuckled. "Oh, that's for sure."

"And to avoid hearing baby screams in the middle of the night."

"Same goes for me," Emma commented as she put away the now dried pot. "Will I even find a new apartment easily enough?"

Regina's mind flashed back to the times she'd seen a moving van in the past six months. "Yes, you will. Think about the couples – reunited or recently born – who started living together since you broke the curse. I think you may have some options."

"You're right," Emma sighed as she dried her hands. "So, I guess it's magic time now?"

"Yes. We'll try something new today. Go grab our jackets, I'll take the fairies' book."

-0-

A few minutes later, outside in the backyard, Regina was impatiently waiting for Emma to make the simple healing spell work.

"You have to focus, Emma. Feel the magic inside you," she instructed as the sheriff's latest attempt to regenerate the withered flower in her hand miserably failed.

Emma tried again, and again nothing happened. "Damn it! I'm focusing, it just doesn't work."

Feeling her own frustration grow, Regina took a calming breath and moved closer to Emma.

"Let me help," she said. She gripped Emma's arm and focused on calling on the surface the woman's magic. With surprise she realized that it felt faint, consumed, as if Emma had just spent hours using it.

Tightening her grip on Emma's bicep she asked, "Have you been using your magic?"

"What?"

"Your magic, it's faint. You have clearly made use of it very recently. What did you do?"

Emma shrugged away from her hold and clenched her jaw. Feeling fear and anger building in her body, Regina repeated her question in her most threatening tone, "What did you do with your magic, Emma?"

The sheriff lowered her eyes. "What you didn't. I tried to take my heart. It didn't work."

It was exactly what Regina had most feared of hearing and the relief for Emma's failure however big was not as huge as the desire to slap Emma across her face for her stupidity. Regina pushed it down by closing her itching palm in a fist and taking a few steps away from the woman.

In that moment Regina doubted all her good reasons for teaching Emma magic; she felt nauseous at the idea that her lessons might one day give Emma the power needed to rip off her own heart.

"Let's go back inside," she said without even a glance in the sheriff's direction.

Emma gripped her arm before she could move. "Regina. Don't be upset, please. I know it was completely stupid of me. God, even asking you to do that for me was crazy and totally unacceptable, but please, don't make me feel even shittier about it."

"What do you want me to say, Emma?"

"Nothing. Just understand that last night I…I was not my usual self," Emma stated as she slowly released her arm. "I would've never done that otherwise."

Regina fixed her unwavering gaze on Emma. "I'll forget about last night, but can you honestly promise me that you'll _never _consider magic as an option to escape from your own problems?"

As she spoke, Regina realized that she was essentially asking Emma to not become her, to avoid turning into someone who relied too much on magic, and who, at a certain point in her life, thought that casting a curse was the best way to get a happy ending.

At the way Emma's eyes softened, she knew that Emma had realized that too.

"I promise, Regina." The words were spoken firmly, with nothing but certainty behind them, and Regina found herself believing and trusting them. More than anything, however, Regina trusted her own commitment to make it so that Emma would never break her promise.

"No lessons and no spells until next week; you need to recharge your magic," she ordered then, before she went back inside the house and into her study where she carelessly put down the old tome.

"Careful or Blue will kill you!" Emma commented jokingly from behind her.

"Oh, I would like to see her try…"

Images of her hand tightening around Blue's throat and of the fairy soundless pleading for release flashed in her mind, leaving a satisfied smirk on her lips for the time she took off her jacket and sat on one of the armchairs of the room.

Following her lead, Emma sat down too and asked, "So, what are we gonna do now?"

While looking at her waiting for a suggestion, Emma freed her long hair from the bun she had sported since after her shower. At this vision, Regina's mind filled with new inappropriate images: this time her hand was tangled in Emma's hair and the woman – naked beneath her – was screaming in pleasure.

Regina swallowed hard. Her desire for Emma, that longing that overwhelmed her at times, was burning bright in her body and quickly pooling between her legs. For the first time in over a year, Regina wasn't sure she would be able to suppress it.

"Are you okay?" Regina heard Emma asking through the fog of desire clouding her senses, and at the sheer concern in Emma's voice and eyes the strongest impulse to take the woman's face in her hands and gently kiss her bloomed inside her.

Regina stood up quickly and excused herself before escaping the room.

She wasn't surprised when two minutes later after she had found refuge in the bathroom and tried to control her desire through long and deep breaths Emma knocked on the door asking again if she was okay.

"I'm fine," she replied through the door. She then splashed her face with cold water and came out of the bathroom.

Emma's concerned gaze was on her again, assessing her figure and inflaming her desire anew. When the sheriff reached out to brush aside a wet strand of hair that had clung to her forehead, Regina felt shivers coursing through her body.

"You sure you're okay?"

"Some fresh air might help," stated Regina and hated the way her voice had sounded low and raspy.

"Let's go back outside then," offered Emma eagerly.

With panicked lucidity, Regina realized that avoiding being alone with Emma was imperative. There was still so much time before Henry came home and Regina couldn't risk giving in to her urges; not when Emma was still deeply upset by her parents' news. They needed to be in town, where she knew kissing Emma would be seen and therefore undesirable.

"A walk might be better."

"Alright. I'll grab our jackets."

-0-

For the second time that day Regina was walking the streets of Storybrooke, enjoying the fresh air of the last day of March. The fear and need to find Emma felt in the morning were now replaced by Emma's solid presence right beside her.

As she'd hoped, moving around town quelled her desire. However, a new troubling feeling soon emerged. A sense of unease covered her as she noticed the way Emma interacted with the people they met, who weren't many considering the still working hour and their avoidance of Main Street: at the docks first with Eric and then with Sebastian, and in town with Merida and Alice, and later with Billy, Regina was the one to share polite greetings and a few words (they weren't part of the large group of residents who wanted her dead, after all), while Emma barely said hello and just stood there looking slightly irritated and very out of place as Regina talked to them.

It seemed like something had broken between Emma and the town folk, like the sheriff's tolerance for the fairytale characters around her had reached its lowest point. Hours before, as they were standing miles out of town, Emma had somehow implied how easily she could do without Storybrooke and how easily she could leave it behind her without missing it, but Regina knew that Emma actually liked the town and cared for its citizens. It was now clear, though, that Emma needed a break from it.

"Do you like camping?" She asked as they were slowly making their way to the bus stop where Henry would soon get off.

"What?"

"Camping. You know, going off to spend a few days in the woods, sleep in a tent and eat roasted marshmallows," she explained with a smirk, welcoming Emma's eye roll. "Is it an activity you find enjoyable?"

"Not particularly, and I only ever did it once…Why the question?"

"When Henry was eight he became obsessed with the idea of camping. I think he saw that in a movie and thought it would be fun to go spend a few days in the woods. He begged me twice a day for two weeks to organize a trip," Regina began to explain, sharing a memory of Henry's past to introduce the proposition she was going to make.

"I'd never slept on the ground when I was in the Enchanted Forest, I had no intention of starting then. Graham," Regina continued and abruptly paused as the name left her lips, feeling the burn of shame for what she had done to the hunter coming back to her. She knew she had no right to bring up his memory and a quick glance at Emma revealed that the woman thought that too.

She swallowed hard and then went on, "Henry went camping with him a few times. He enjoyed it very much then as sudden as the obsession had came it disappeared."

"Are you telling me this because you want me to take him camping?" Asked Emma, perfectly understanding what Regina was about to say.

"Yes, this weekend."

"I don't know…I mean, I'm no expert and would Henry even want to go?" The sheriff rebutted, expressing uncertainty and reluctance.

"I'm sure he would be happy to spend some time alone with you doing something different, and most importantly _you_ could benefit from it."

Emma arched an eyebrow, confused at her words, and so Regina stepped in front of Emma, putting an abrupt stop to their walking.

"You want to avoid your parents for a while and you clearly need some time away from Storybrooke and its folk. I think we both know that crossing the town line is not an option right now. The wood is. And having the reason why you want to stay in Storybrooke at your side can only help you."

Regina kept her eyes fixed on Emma, as the woman considered what she'd said. Her heart fluttered in her chest when Emma smiled softly at her.

"How come you know what I need more than I do?"

The awe in Emma's voice and the way Emma was looking at her, like she was amazing and special, made Regina blush for the first time in years. Embarrassed by her body's response, she quickly turned around and resumed her walking.

"Does that mean you're going?" She asked then, staring far ahead where she could see some parents already waiting at the bus stop.

"Yeah…I'll ask Henry."

"Good."

-0-

With enthusiasm, Henry had accepted the idea of a camping trip and once home he'd immediately run to his room to check out the weather forecast for the next days on his computer.

And so, Regina was now looking with Emma for the tent she knew she'd stored somewhere in her garage years before.

"You know, Regina, I never thought you could be this messy," Emma taunted as they moved a heavy box filled with old blankets.

The garage was in fact quite messy, Regina could admit it. Tool cases and garden tools of all sizes, piles of books she had read a decade ago, boxes full of useless stuff and Henry's old toys were scattered around and on the shelves without any resemblance of order.

Still, she was about to offer a mocking retort about Emma's own sense of tidiness, when turning around she found herself looking into red tearful eyes. With confusion, Regina searched for the source of the sheriff's distress and found it in the box of Henry's baby clothes at Emma's feet.

Immediately, Regina made her way to Emma and put a gentle hand on the woman's shoulder, trying to offer her sympathy.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine," Emma replied with a shaking voice. "You know by now that I don't regret giving Henry up. I couldn't have given him everything he needed, everything _you_ gave him."

Months before, Emma had in fact expressed her peace with her decision to give Henry up for adoption, still, Regina was sure that it couldn't be easy for Emma to see such tangible proofs of the years she'd missed as Henry's mother.

"I was just thinking that I…" Emma started, and stopped to lift her eyes at the ceiling to block her tears. "I almost walked away from him again last night."

Regina was taken aback by the words and by the way they were whispered with shame and deprecation. Without thinking it twice, she took Emma's face in her hands and forced the woman to look at her.

"Emma, you run away from _your parents_ last night. And you stopped just a few miles away from Storybrooke because you _couldn't_ _leave Henry_," Regina forcefully reminded to the sheriff. "We both know that you feel responsible for Henry's happiness now. You wouldn't break his heart by disappearing and never coming back."

"Right?" She added, demanding Emma to acknowledge the truth of her words.

"Right," said Emma, with a voice now firm again.

Regina waited until the tears disappeared from Emma's eyes and then took a step back. "Come on, let's go back looking for that tent in this awful mess."

"Yes, ma'am."

A last look to confirm that Emma was fine again and Regina turned back to their search. The dust laid thicker on the things now scattered around her, indicating a longer presence in the garage and feeding her hope on being on the right track.

"Wait, on that box." Emma gestured at a cardboard box behind a mini soccer net at her right. "It reads _camping gear_."

Regina shoved the books she was holding into Emma's chest and quickly knelt down to check the contents of the written box. She could see the red tent she remembered buying packed inside, along with two sleeping bags and a flashlight.

"We found it," she exclaimed happily.

"Thank God," sighed Emma, echoing her joy. "Let me, I'll bring it near the door."

The sheriff replaced the books in her hands with the box, and as she moved it to the front of the garage, Regina haphazardly rearranged what they had moved during their long search.

"We should probably lie the tent down on the grass tomorrow and check for any damages," Emma suggested.

"That's a good idea. And maybe, dear, you should also try to set it up…"

"And you what? You'll take my time?" Emma scoffed.

"Maybe. I just need you to prove that our son won't be sleeping right under the stars," Regina retorted playfully.

"Rest assured, he won't," the sheriff replied with confidence and Regina smiled at the glint of challenge in her eyes.

"We'll see."

They exited the garage door then and went back inside. On the couch they found Henry, eating an apple and half-watching a documentary on tv.

"Have you found the tent?" He asked, once he had swallowed the piece of fruit in his mouth.

"Yes, kid. We'll see tomorrow if it's intact."

"Cool. Wanna play Mario Kart now?" He asked Emma, and when she nodded he ran into the kitchen to throw away the apple core.

Regina sat on the couch and picked up the book placed on the coffee table. She opened the novel and getting in a more comfortable position resumed her reading. Soon Emma and Henry were on the floor, laughing and teasing each other as they played, and Regina found herself more captivated by the smiles on their faces than by the black letters on the pages.

Immersed in the carefree atmosphere, Regina allowed their playing to go on more than she usually did. She even let them keep going when she rose from the couch to move into the kitchen and start making dinner.

Ten minutes later, she was kneading the dough for a large pizza when a warm hand brushed her back.

"I've sent Henry upstairs to do some homework. Do you need any help?" Emma asked.

"You can grate the cheese."

Regina kept her eyes fixed on Emma as the woman moved around the kitchen, taking the mozzarella cheese out of the fridge, retrieving a plate from the cupboard and the grater from the second drawer, and creating her own workspace. Eyes turned back on the white dough in her hands, Regina thought about Emma's intention of looking for a new place, and in that moment, filled with the warmth and content evoked by Emma's presence and by the woman's familiarity with her spaces, Regina fiercely wanted to ask Emma to forget all about a new apartment and just come live there with her and Henry.

She couldn't though. She didn't want their relationship to whither before it got the chance to fully blossom into something beautiful and taking now such an important step could easily damage the foundations they were building on. For now, she could only happily enjoy the time – already consistent – spent by Emma in her home, and fully enjoy the promising glimpses of what their future could be like.

This time their collaboration culminated in a delicious-looking pizza being put in the oven. Regina set the timer, took off her apron and then filled two glasses of wine. When she offered one of the glasses to Emma, the sheriff took both of them in her hands and placed them back on the counter.

Regina's confusion turned into fear and worry when Emma spoke these words, "There's something I want to tell you."

"I want to say thank you, Regina," Emma continued, and Regina felt air filling her lungs again. "All day you've been kind and patient and wonderful to me. You've offered a sympathetic ear, set my bad thoughts straight and kept me in the moment. So, thank you. Thank you for being everything I needed."

Regina was aware that by now she shouldn't be surprised by the way Emma could make warmth burst in her heart with her words, or the way she could caress her soul with her adoring gazes, yet Regina was left breathless and amazed by what Emma had just said and by the _love_ she could now see in the woman's eyes.

And so when Emma leaned in to kiss her, Regina finally gave in and let her lips meet Emma's halfway. Their mouth had barely touched when Regina felt the taste and the tingling of magic on her lips. Soon, it disappeared and the only sensation left was the one of the softness and sweetness of Emma's mouth.

Then Regina felt Emma's hand rest on her neck and the woman slowly moving away. She opened her eyes and found Emma looking at her with a soft smile.

"I believe this was better than our first kiss," commented Emma.

"You remember?"

"Just now."

And Regina realized that if she had felt magic on her lips was because her memory spell was broken. For a hot second, she questioned if that had happened because of a True Love Kiss, but the shivers induced by Emma's touch and the knowledge that Emma's magic worked in strange ways made it easy for her to dismiss the thought.

On her part, the sheriff didn't seem to have realized why she was suddenly remembering their first kiss and Regina decided to let her ignore the real reason. After all, with Emma's taste on her lips, Regina wasn't even confident she could form the intelligible words needed to make Emma understand it.

"Can I kiss you again?" Emma asked then shyly, and Regina could only answer by tangling her hand in Emma's hair and pressing her mouth against hers.

The long and slow kiss that followed didn't foster the flames of their passion. It was meant to convey love and understanding, care and gratitude, and Regina could feel each emotion spilling from her and pervade her in the intense exchange.

When they broke the kiss, Emma whispered on her lips, "I could do this forever." And Regina, eyes still closed and body trembling, fully agreed, "So could I."

And so Regina spent the next few minutes with her back against the kitchen counter and with her lips against Emma's. Then the timer went off and they reluctantly separated; Emma called Henry downstairs and set the table with him, while Regina sliced the pizza.

For the first time during one of their dinners Regina's glass of wine stayed untouched: the heady feeling caused by their kisses, and the fond looks and shy smiles she kept sharing with Emma over the table were inebriating enough. As a consequence, Regina found focusing on what Henry was saying a difficult task: his words only registered as white noise in her ears, and Regina realized only too late that she'd agreed to let him miss school on Friday to prepare for his camping trip.

When they finished eating, Henry was asked to look for a movie to watch together, while Emma and Regina took care of the dishes.

It was then that Regina started to wonder if she'd done the right thing by kissing Emma. Remembering the drowning woman who had knocked on her door the night before and her own doubts regarding Emma's ability to love her completely, Regina was suddenly thinking she shouldn't have kissed her.

The need to know if Emma was sharing her regret urged her to ask, "Are you okay?"

"I am fine. Why are you asking?" Emma replied, over the sound of running water.

"I…I need to know that you are not getting overwhelmed by what happened. Or regretting it," Regina bluntly admitted.

In response, Emma turned off the faucet and turned fully towards her. "You're thinking I'm going to run away again because we kissed."

It was not a question and Regina heard clearly the disappointment that tinted Emma's voice.

"That's not what I'm fearing," she explained. "I'm worry you'll close yourself off and make it hard for me to simply be with you; I am afraid that you're going to run away from _your feelings_. This is not a good time, after all, and with the-"

With a finger on her lips, Emma interrupted her stream of words. "Regina, stop talking and more importantly stop thinking," she requested. Satisfied with her silence, Emma lowered her hand.

"Listen," she continued. "I won't dispel your worries by saying that I love you – I can't do that now – but I can say this," Emma paused and Regina could feel her heart beating furiously against her ribcage. "Despite our origins and our roles, we're not living a fairytale. I don't think that that is possible in this horrible world and with our damaging pasts. Yet, I found myself believing, and today more than ever, that you can be my happy ending and I can be yours."

Regina's eyes watered and soon tears started flowing as the words – bitter in their premise and therefore so incredibly sweet in their sentimental culmination – echoed in her mind and in her heart. Emma took her tenderly in her arms next, and through her hair whispered, "I won't let our fears get in the way of our happy ending."

Emma was reassuring her with the most perfect words, holding her gently and flooding her heart with happiness. It all felt like a dream to Regina, but even her dreams weren't that pleasant: in her nocturnal fantasy land, scaring memories, looming threats, impenetrable darkness or hearts suddenly pulsating in her hands always spoiled even the most peaceful and happy sceneries conjured up by her sleeping mind.

This dream-like reality, however, wasn't going to be disturbed and its end was only going to become the beginning of Regina's full acceptance of all the love she could offer to Emma and be given back.

When her happy tears stopped falling, Regina lifted her head so that she could kiss Emma's lips. Emma welcomed her mouth on hers with a smile, and Regina knew then that the gratitude and the promise she had meant to convey had been received.

When their lips parted, Emma let go of Regina and wordlessly they went back to their tasks. They quickly finished doing the dishes and tiding up the kitchen.

"Let's go watch whatever Henry has chosen," Emma said as she dried her hands. "Wait, do we tell him that I'm staying over?"

"You know Henry, he will want to know why," argued Regina. "Tomorrow morning we can say that you fell asleep here and that it was too late for you to drive home."

"Sounds good to me."

A few minutes later, as they were all sitting on the couch, Regina met Emma's eyes over Henry's head. In that moment, for the first time in her life, Regina felt in peace with the world and with her fate.

* * *

Finally, chapter 3 is here. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! If you feel like it, leave a review: you'll make me very happy.

Until next time!


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